But sometimes, plans go slightly awry and Shorten's left to bear the brunt of laughter that follows. This time it was the Federal Opposition leader's attempt to skull a beer as quick as he could -- the problem was that he just wasn't very quick at it.

Shorten was visiting flood-affected areas in parts of northern Queensland on Tuesday when he was handed the beer at a local pub and challenged to down the glass in the same way former Prime Minister and Labor Leader Bob Hawke has been since his stint in parliament, according to Junkee.